Letter

Dear Sirs:

from

you

My subscription to ONE has just become effective, and I have read Volume One, Number Four with interest and with admiration. Prompted by an earnest desire to see you succeed, I offer the following suggestions and comment:

(1) Editorially, the book reflects an assumption on the part of the editors which is not true: i.e., that all readers live in California, and that they are possessed of a great many background facts. In the current issue, for example, repeated reference is made to the Mattachine Foundation, yet nowhere in the copy can I find what the Foundation is, how it operates, and where I can write for further information about it. Similarly, the bulk of the text is confined to legal matters in the state of California, which while it may have some wider application in theory, mitigates against wide reader interest.

(2) While I believe in the dignity of your undertaking, I also believe that an almost uniform note of dire solemnity toward the problem will prove defeating. Here and there, in your pages, I see a need for a lighter note. Don't you agree that those individuals who have made the most commendable adjustment to the problem are those who have a sense of humor about it?

Like any new publication in the throes of birth pains, I suspect ONE's big headache currently is cost and personnel. But even if your plans are only dreams at this juncture, I think you ought to let the reader in on them.

Would you be interested in short fiction, for example? medium, but I'll take a crack at it, and for free, too!)

(I'm a writer in another

What about a brief review of current books on the subject? (And would you agree to condemning much of the crop as the tripe it is?)

What about material only vaguely related to the subject? I'm serious, and hope you are too, about an occasional piece on travel, the theatre, TV "lighter" things. Let's face it, fellows: life is tough, but not THAT tough. At least, not all the time.

-

Incidentally, I enclose $1.15. For this, I'd be grateful if you'll send me the back issues, and apply the remaining 40c to sending me future issues by first class mail. It takes a long time to cross the country, and I don't like waiting for something good. S. J. R. The Editors think you're so right: send it!

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